In twelve months to December 31, 2018 stock investors on the Nigerian Bourse exchanged equities valued at N2.404trillion. This cumulative transactions from January to December 2018 represents a reduction by 5.44percent, from N2.542trillion recorded same period in 2017.
Foreign investors accounted for N1.219trillion representing 50.87percent of the total value of stocks traded last year, while domestic investors exchanged equities valued at N1.185trillion, representing 49.13percent.
Foreign inflows into the stock market stood low at N576.45billion against foreign outflow of N642.65billion in the review month. Domestic retail investors accounted for N524.63billion in equities transaction while domestic institutional investors exchanged equities worth N660.67billion.
Equities trading highlights between 2011 and 2015 show foreign transactions consistently outperformed domestic transactions. However, domestic transactions marginally outpaced foreign transactions in 2016 and 2017, and remained almost at par in 2018.
Also, foreign transactions which stood at N1.539trillion in 2014 declined to N1219billion in 2018. Over a twelve (12) year period, domestic transactions have decreased by 66.67percent, from N3.556trillion in 2007 to N1.185trillion in 2018.
Month-on-month (MoM), the total transactions at the nation’s bourse reduced by 15.93percent, from N149.72 billion recorded in November 2018 to N125.86 billion (about $488.8 million) in December 2018.
Domestic investors outperformed foreign investors by 4.54percent in December 2018. Total Domestic transactions increased marginally by 0.64percent from N65.36 billion in November to N65.78 billion in December 2018. In contrast, total foreign transactions reduced by 28.78percent from N84.36 billion to N60.08 billion driven by a reduction in foreign inflows which reduced by 34.31percent from N34.97 billion to N22.97 billion and foreign outflows which reduced by 24.86percent from N49.39 billion to N37.11 billion over the same period.
Meanwhile, the stock market closed last week ended January 18, 2019 in the green as the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All Share Index (ASI) increased by 3.94percent. The gain seen last week narrowed year-to-date (YtD) negative returns to -1.35percent. Last Friday’s rally by +1.38percent pushed the NSE All Share Index (ASI) to close at 31,005.17 points while the value of listed stocks reached new highs of N11.562trillion, from week-open low of N11.124trillion.
Iheanyi Nwachukwu
